No One Saves Us But Ourselves: Part 1
by Ambassador666
Summary: Kai Tooru is more than the average police man. In a past life he was once known as Katsumura Hideo. When thefts around Japan begin to spring up and corrupt officials are brought to light, a masked man going by the name Wildcat is suspected. A man wearing a cat mask. A man who knows Kai's past self as much as Kai knows Wildcat's. [Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko x Aibou] Part 1.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own 'Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko' or 'Aibou'**

. . .

Kai stared at the pile of newspaper articles on the table with a raised eyebrow.

' **Mysterious Thief Wildcat Strikes Again!**

 ** _Political Organization 'Shining Peace' stole 50,000,000 Yen…_** '

"Ano, Sugishita-san, what's this?" He asked, pointing at the pile and keeping his posture calm despite his internal alarm. Sugishita who was pouring his tea with the usual flare of bravado spared Kai and the table a glance.

"I believe that is a pile of newspapers, Kaito-kun."

Kai could feel a habitual headache begin to surface at the back of his head, courtesy of the man opposite him. He smiled smoothly. "I can see that, Sugishita-san. But what are they doing _here_?" Gesturing to the The Special Mission Unit with a wave of an arm. Sugishita had been standing near the coffee machine, but now sat at his desk, cupping his tea mug with a gentle smile.

"Call it natural curiosity. This Phantom Thief is a very interesting fellow. Robbing from the corrupt. His escapades remind me of the old English tale, Robin Hood..."

"Oh?" Said Kai, flipping through the top newspaper article about whether the intentions of the thief 'Wilcat' was good or evil. It sent a wave of nostalgia at him like a bag of ice.

"Yes." Sugishita nodded, pausing to take a sip. "Kaito-kun, did you know Robin Hood is based on a true story?"

"I did not."

Sugishita opened his mouth to delve into England's intereting history when Kakuta knocked at the door, panda mug in hand. After the three of them offered pleasantries Kakuta interested Sugishita about a new case he heard about (most likely from gossip), Kai turned back to the newspapers. He felt an odd sense of hollowness in his chest, mingled with fear and exhilaration.

 _Are you him?_

Kai wondered as his finger traced the printout drawing given from a witness. The cat mask was unmistakable.

 _If you are, will you find me?_

His heart pounded at the thought.

 _Or will I find you?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Set during season 12 episode 11 of Aibou.**

. . .

"…To put it plainly I need you to do my job for me. Inside the envelope there's your pay, her picture, name and addresses of where she works and lives. There's also a burner phone," he places a red flip-phone down, "which she'll call every morning at six and tell you how to ki- _take care_ of her. Can you take the job?" Asks the man besides him.

Kai sips his glass of water, glancing at the envelope of cash deposited on the counter. Picking it up and flipping through, he's marginally impressed at the amount.

"I can do that," Kai says and places the envelope on the inside his jacket pocket along with the phone. "I just have one question," Sugishita was rubbing off on him, "if you don't mind answering." It wasn't a question. His new client seemed to realize that and took a sip of his alcohol. "You seem competent enough to take care of her yourself, why hire me?"

The man snorts bitterly and swishes some ice around in his drink with a long index finger. "Some Chief in the Police has been breathing down my neck for some time ever since I got out of the joint, I'm not spiritual or anything but lately I've been getting a pit in my stomach and I've been thinking to myself that maybe me terrorizing Japan has reached its end point. But that was before I got the job of… _taking care_ of her. I may not a lot of morals, but I'm a man of my word so I asked some buds of mine about hiring some assassi- _caretaker_ to do the job for me. Heard you were the best out there, and as they say, the rest is history." He finished with downing the small glass and stretching his back.

Kai nodded. "Thank you." Getting up to leave he stopped as a hand grabbed the hem of his sleeve. The man angled his head to try and see under his hood. Kai turned away.

"I have a question myself," said his client. Common sense slipping from the alcohol intake. "Are you really the Chameleon, or some errand boy? 'cause you sound kinda young…" He leaned forward, still trying to get a proper look at Kai's face. "Look kinda young too."

"Why does it matter? Tomorrow Nishimuta Kanae will be dead, and you'll be out of Japan. My identity is of no concern. Oyasumi*, Yanagi-san and take care."

Slipping through Shogo's weak grasp, Kai leaves the downtrodden bar and makes his way to work, last night's dream of a man in a cat mask filling his head.

. . .

"Ohayou gozaimasu*." Kai greets Sugishita the next day, flipping his wooden chip and putting his things away.

"Ohayou gozaimasu." Came the instant response. Sugishita tilts his head inquisitively at Kai's drawn out sigh. "You're not yourself today."

Kai groaned in response as he flops down on his chair. "I'm a bit bothered by the ominous dream I had." He confides, remembering Yamane holding a gun at his head.

"Ominous dream you say?" Asks Sugishita, eyes twinkling. Kai suddenly wished he hadn't said anything. "Can you describe it to me?" _There it is._

"I don't wanna talk about it." He said.

"That bad." Sugishita utters.

" _It's been a while, Hideo."_

"Really bad." Kai confirms.

"My goodness."

When the Chief walks in Kai's already counting down the time to his targets death, the sound of his mental clock ticking distracting him from thoughts about his nightmare.

" _Or should I say Chameleon?"_

Shaking the echoes of a dream away, Kai calmly began to tap a finger on the table, timing it with his breathing. It was a trick he had used when learning how to use a rifle.

 _In…_

 _Tap tap tap_

 _Out…_

 _Tap tap tap_

Repeating it some times again, Kai's thoughts were clear.

That was, until Jinkawa bounded into the room and asks Sugishita to help protect his intended target.

Kai tries not to scowl.

 _Sometimes_ , Kai thinks sullenly, _the universe just loves to fuck me over_.

. . .

Of course, Kai's day plummeted from then onwards, going so far as to being admitted into the hospital because Sugishita just had to push him to save the woman he was trying to kill. Which then landed him down the stairs thanks to Jinkawa's buffoonery.

Thankfully he only fractured his ankle so he was able to maneuver around quite steadily. He's been in far worse situations with far more injuries than a simple fracture in the ankle.

He was by no means a delicate flower.

Which is how Kai found himself hauling a sniper rifle up onto a rooftop in the middle of the night (a building opposite Kanae; his target), hopping on one foot as to not turn the fracture in his ankle an all out break. The problem was, this body of his wasn't used to working in hard conditions like his past one. In his past life he had honed his body into a lethal killing machine (he was damned child soldier). This one, _well_ , he lived a comfortable life.

All in all, his body wasn't agreeing with him. His body ached, his mind was weary from the drugs the hospital gave him, and his ankle was on fire. It reminded Kai of wearing into a new shoe.

Hellishly uncomfortable.

It was times like these that Kai wondered when his life had turned into one big cosmic joke…Eh, probably started when he was reincarnated - Kai still hadn't figured that one out yet. Or how Yamane had seemingly followed him into this world, or whether this world had its own Wildcat. Which was weird because as far as Kai had discovered, this place had no Yuuki Tenmei. Or Mao. Or…any of his past partners in crime actually.

With a huff, Kai gently dropped the bag onto the side of the roof, kneeled, and began assembling everything. His hands worked swiftly and expertly, moving with precision that only came with experience. And Kai had _lots_ of experience.

Clicking the bullet into place, Kai laid down, leaning gently and looked through the scope. He aimed through the window, infrared light dot on the part of the bed that he could _just_ make out as a body.

Taking deep breaths to calm down the adrenaline he could feel, Kai made sure to make everything perfect. He's never been very good with sniper rifles, missing his target could ruin his reputation.

His finger brushed against the trigger, breathe in…breathe out…Eye focused, Kai pulle - suddenly a loud siren blared to life.

His target jerked awake and lights snapped to life around him. Startled, Kai's finger pulled and a high-powered shot exploded through her window. Cursing under his breath, Kai didn't take any time to check if he hit her and began to pack up.

Exiting the building through the fire escape, Kai rushed down the stairs, skipping a few at a time to speed things up and hopping on his good foot. Breaking his ankle wouldn't do. Oh, what a joy that would be explain to his Doctor, even more so to Sugishita. _That curious bastard._

Arriving at the streets, Kai ducked his head, cap overshadowing his face as to no be seen. For midnight, the streets seemed to be exceptionally lively. Bleeding into the crowd where people seemed to have congregated like a flock of birds (most of them in pajamas he noticed), Kai angled his head and searched for Nishimuta Kanae.

He was gritting his teeth as seconds continued to pass and no sign of her as people poured out of the apartment building. Mothers carrying crying children, boyfriends and girlfriends trying to look like they weren't doing anything wicked, there were an elderly couple being helped by some nice strangers - but still, no sign of her.

He felt the weight of the gun in his pocket and began to toy the idea of sneaking in there and putting a bullet in her head. That thought was quickly scrapped as he remembered that it didn't have a silencer on, although, with the fire alarm blaring who would hear a single gunshot?

Then he saw her, bleeding, shaking and crying.

 _Shit_ , he thought, the bullet only grazed her. Just then an ambulance careened over, followed by a fire truck. He turned away after seeing the paramedics rushing to her side.

Leaving the scene quickly, Kai wondered, _who pulled the fire alarm?_ There was no smoke, no fire, so why?

Then he felt someone watching him. The pinprick tell on the back of his neck. Sliding a hand into his pocket, Kai turned around and his breathing stopped. On the opposite side of the rode, hidden in the shadows was a man wearing a cat mask. His eyes grew wide and heart jumped in his chest. Either excitement or fear, he didn't know. He didn't care. _He was here._

 _He pulled the fire alarm. He knew! How?_

The man, Yamane – _is he Yamane?_ – lifted his hand and waved before turning around and disappearing through the distracted crowd. Kai went to follow but the sound of police sirens told him not to. Wildcat had found him, somehow, and now Kai will find him.

The realization that they were only meters from each other sent reality crashing down on him. What will happen when they're in a room together?

. . .

"Eh?!" Kai exclaimed, shooting up on his elbows. "Kanae-san was shot?" Sugishita placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him back down on the hospital bed. "Is she okay?"

"She's perfectly fine," his partner reassured, "the bullet just grazed her shoulder."

"Are you sure?"

Sugishita chuckled. "Goodness, I am sure. Jinkawa made certain of that, he asked Kanae-san many times if she was alright, I'm wondering how he hasn't lost his voice yet. She's resting up now from all the excitement, they put her on pain medication and it is known to make people sleepy. Coincidentally she's in the same hospital as you. A floor below us I believe, room 3B."

"I should go visit her then." Kai decided, moving to get up but was once again stopped by Sugishita.

"You shouldn't move around much, Kaito." He advised with a stern look. "Your ankle needs to heal, moving about so much shouldn't be good."

Kai was going to argue but then remembered how much he did this morning and gave a crooked smile. "Yeah, I should rest."

. . .

The next morning a nurse found Kanae dead from asphyxiation.

. . .

"My Goodness," Sugishita says and lets out a long, tired sigh as he sat at Hana no Sato's bar. "What a depressing case."

"Sounds like it." Said Sachiko, nodding with a frown. "Jinkawa-san, would you like another glass of sake?"

The young man was face down on the table and almost drunk. He sat up and nodded, expression crestfallen. For once he wasn't talking.

As she re-filled his drink, Sachiko turned to Kai, another person who was unusually quiet this evening.

"How about you Kai-san?"

"No thank you." Kai inclined his head. "Any leads on Kanae-san's killer, Sugishita-san?"

"He or she disappeared like a ghost." He replied. "The crime scene held the air of an assassin. Very mysterious."

 _"Assassin?"_ Croaked Jinkawa and took another gulp of sake. "Who would want to kill Kanae-san! She is... _was_ lovely..."

"Who indeed." Nodded Sugishita, humming in thought. Next to him Kai refilled his glass of water, taking a sip to please his dry mouth. Ever since this morning he's felt a hollowness in his stomach, like something bad was about to happen.

The door behind them rolls open and the sound of flip-flops penetrated the heavy air.

His stomach knitted together uncomfortably.

"Oh! Hideo-kun!"

The glass explodes in Kai's hand.

. . .

* - Good night

* - Good morning


End file.
